Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Cabinet Office, and (2) its Executive Agencies.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
39 Civil Servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Cabinet Office and 0 in its (2) Executive Agencies.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money for child maintenance was collected under the collect and pay service in the past three years; and for how many children this money was collected.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics every three months. Table 4 of the latest National tables provides the total amount of maintenance paid via Collect and Pay each quarter between January 2015 and September 2025.
The below table shows Money paid each Quarter via Collect and Pay for Great Britain, for the past 12 quarters October 2022 to September 2025
Quarter | Maintenance paid (£ millions) |
Oct to Dec 2022 | 49.1 |
Jan to Mar 2023 | 49.1 |
Apr to Jun 2023 | 52.1 |
Jul to Sep 2023 | 57.5 |
Oct to Dec 2023 | 56.6 |
Jan to Mar 2024 | 58.7 |
Apr to Jun 2024 | 61.2 |
Jul to Sep 2024 | 65.4 |
Oct to Dec 2024 | 67.8 |
Jan to Mar 2025 | 72.5 |
Apr to Jun 2025 | 78.2 |
Jul to Sep 2025 | 84.4 |
Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information
Notes:
The below table shows the number of children covered by Collect and Pay arrangements by payment status, for Great Britain, by quarter end, December 2022 to September 2025
Quarter end [note 2] | Collect & Pay, paying [note 3] | Collect & Pay, not paying [note 4] | Total |
December 2022 | 167,183 | 140,187 | 307,370 |
March 2023 | 170,753 | 144,587 | 315,343 |
June 2023 | 181,346 | 140,181 | 321,526 |
September 2023 | 191,532 | 137,948 | 329,485 |
December 2023 | 192,539 | 146,012 | 338,548 |
March 2024 | 200,457 | 146,153 | 346,605 |
June 2024 | 208,444 | 150,600 | 359,038 |
September 2024 | 216,082 | 160,165 | 376,245 |
December 2024 | 223,538 | 169,759 | 393,297 |
March 2025 | 235,795 | 172,915 | 408,713 |
June 2025 | 256,722 | 164,079 | 420,799 |
September 2025 | 271,720 | 160,907 | 432,627 |
Source: Stat-Xplore
Note:
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many liability orders regarding child maintenance they have applied for in the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Child Maintenance Service official statistics every three months. Table 6.1 of the latest National tables provides information about enforcement actions used by the Child Maintenance Service each quarter between April 2015 and September 2025 including the number of liability orders applied for in England and Wales.
The below table shows volumes of Liability Orders applied for in England and Wales, for the past 12 quarters from October 2022 to September 2025
Quarter | Liability Orders applied for |
Oct to Dec 2022 | 2,700 |
Jan to Mar 2023 | 4,300 |
Apr to Jun 2023 | 4,000 |
Jul to Sep 2023 | 4,100 |
Oct to Dec 2023 | 4,500 |
Jan to Mar 2024 | 5,300 |
Apr to Jun 2024 | 4,500 |
Jul to Sep 2024 | 3,500 |
Oct to Dec 2024 | 3,700 |
Jan to Mar 2025 | 4,000 |
Apr to Jun 2025 | 3,400 |
Jul to Sep 2025 | 3,600 |
Source: Child Maintenance Service Administrative and Clerical Data
Note:
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to introduce regulations to enable the commencement of the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Work to implement Administrative Liability Orders (ALOs) is under way.
While Child Maintenance is reserved, enforcement of CM arrears in Scotland requires that orders will be enforced under the Scottish justice system, which is devolved.
We are working closely with HMCTS and the Scottish Government to ensure enforcement action resulting from ALOs operates effectively across the UK, and plan to introduce regulations to parliament to implement the measures across England, Scotland and Wales, as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Leader of the House, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 16 December (HL12733), what plans she has to ensure Ministers fulfil the requirement set out in paragraph 266 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work, published on 19 November 2024, to answer questions on behalf of arm’s-length bodies, including non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Guide to Parliamentary Work is a useful tool for departments to use when interacting with Parliamentary processes. When answering Questions for Written Answer the guide states that “the formal time-limit for answering questions is 10 working days.” and that “it is a recognised right of Parliament that Members receive full and timely responses.” As stated in the guidance there is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current threshold is £850.
I have reminded Ministers and my office has contacted all Parliamentary Teams about this guidance and the requirements in relation to arm's-length bodies including non-departmental public bodies mentioned in paragraph 266.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the geographical boundaries of each air quality agglomeration zone in England.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is divided into 43 zones for air quality assessment. There are 28 agglomeration zones (large urban areas) and 15 non-agglomeration zones. The geographical boundaries of air quality zones and agglomerations in England are set out in the Air Pollution in the UK Report (see attached) and are also made available through the compliance map on the UK-Air website.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed by non-departmental public bodies of the Department for Business and Trade through Skilled Worker visas.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The requested data is not held centrally in a reportable format.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed by non-departmental public bodies of the Treasury through Skilled Worker visas.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on non-departmental public bodies of the Treasury is not held centrally, and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many statutory management notices have been issued regarding Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since 9 December 2022, Natural England has issued zero Section 28K Management Notices.
The number of pre-requisite Section 28J Management Schemes issued since 2022 is one (issued on 1 July 2024).
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government the (1) number, and (2) value of grants issued from the Conservation and Enhancement Scheme in the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For the financial years 2023/24 to 2025/26, the number of Conservation Enhancement Scheme (CES) grants issued, and their value is as follows:
Financial Year | New CES issued | Value |
2023/24 | 50 | £796,137 |
2024/25 | 45 | £1,925,180 |
2025/26 | 47 | £1,930,866 |
Total | 142 | £4,652,183 |
Notes:
1) Number issued includes direct land manager agreements and SSSI investigations. The latter establish what work may be required to support actions on SSSIs that may be supported through a subsequent CES agreement with the land manager.
2) Value – this is the total value spent on CES agreements in each year. Some of this value is for multi-year CES agreed in previous years.
3) Figures for 2025/26 are expected end of year figures. However, only around £130k of this is still to be agreed in January 2026.